


Mac and Dennis Playact Adulthood

by orphan_account



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Gen, Mac and Dennis move to the suburbs, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 08:36:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11710755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The central theme of Mac and Dennis Move to the Suburbs is arrested development.





	Mac and Dennis Playact Adulthood

**Author's Note:**

> This meta is a year and a half old. I found it on my computer while combing through my files and I thought it was neat so I decided to share. We'll see in the future how much my conclusions match up with dad!Dennis, but I think for its time it was accurate.

Mac and Dennis Move to the Suburbs could easily be called ‘Mac and Dennis Playact Adulthood’ because that is exactly the trainwreck that is on display and it is, ultimately, why their move to the suburbs fails.

I think it’s really important when looking at this episode to first and foremost ask ourselves: why have Mac and Dennis been able to live together for 20 years, yet this particular experiment is a gruesome, horrifying failure? Historically they are not incompatible roommates. They spend pretty much all of their time together and refer to each other as best friends. Yet by the end of their experiment, they are pretty close to murdering each other and want to get out of the house as soon as possible. Why have the suburbs affected them this much?

Well, simply put, the suburbs are where adulthood happens and Mac and Dennis have no idea how to be adults. Their suburban lives are based on childlike ideas of adulthood that look like crude adult versions of two children playing house. Neither Mac nor Dennis can handle the roles that they take on during the time they live in the suburbs. Mac cannot cook or clean or fix or take care of another life, nor does he have the desire to despite saying he will do all of these things. Dennis does not want to commute or talk to the neighbors or have strangers over for dinner. Though they try to embody the ‘husband and wife’ suburban ideal, neither of them can do so. By the time they have been there a week, they both want to go home. 

I think this is an important point to emphasize, so I will say it again. By the time they have been there a week,  _they both want to go home_. There is trash piled up in their house with the stench covered with a thousand air fresheners. They aren’t eating anything besides macaroni and cheese. They have barely slept the entire time they lived there. Neither of them have the tools in their arsenal to, in Mac’s words, ‘make this house a home.’

‘I didn’t go to school for that,’ Mac says.

I think an interesting thing about this is that not only did they individually take on these roles, but that they assumed their setup would work, Mac and Dennis view the world as a place where they can fulfill the duties and fill the roles of adulthood properly despite proven inability to do so. There is a universe inside their minds where Mac and Dennis are happy in the suburbs. But it’s a pipe dream - Mac and Dennis will never be normative enough or grown up enough to actually assimilate.

Ultimately if Mac and Dennis had assimilated to the suburbs, that would have been a huge act of growth. It would involve accepting that yes, they are old enough to act like adults and yes they are willing to compromise and make things work and yes they are able to cope with the mundane frustrations of adult life. But Mac and Dennis are both in a state of arrested development where they will never grow or change or learn. All being in the suburbs does for them is remind them of how much they truly do not fit into the world of adults and that they never, ever will.


End file.
